Calgary Green Line alignment update is on track

The future of Calgary’s Green Line is seemingly back on track, Alberta’s transportation minister said on Friday.

Alberta’s Minister of Transportation and Economic Corridors Devin Dreeshen says the new Green Line LRT alignment will be brought to Calgary’s city council in December.

“We hope that Calgary council will approve that new alignment, which will be above ground downtown, but obviously much farther south than Lynnwood-Millican, where the original green line that passed last summer ended to the south,” Dreeshen said.

“Our hope is to go to Shepard and hopefully even farther south to the hospital to Seton, but we’ll see where that new alignment comes out in the coming weeks.”

Minister Dreeshen met with Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek, construction industry members, and the Calgary Downtown Association at a passenger rail engagement forum Friday morning.

The mayor did not disclose the details of her discussion with reporters.

This comes after drama ensued between the City of Calgary and the province after the latter pulled its funding from the Green Line LRT project in September.

Shortly after, council voted 10-5 to wind down the project, estimated to cost over $2.1 billion and impact more than 1,000 jobs. The province announced that AECOM, an infrastructure consulting firm, is working on a new downtown alignment for the end of the year.

AECOM says the new plan will be either at-grade or elevated and extend southeast to Shepard Station near McKenzie Towne and New Brighton, and the new Event Centre.

After discussions with Calgary’s council, the province recommitted funding in late October, and both sides agreed to a December deadline to jump-start the project. It would also have to sign off on a plan presented in December.

Dreeshen said in October the province set guidelines for three conditions for the Green Line: it must connect to the Red and Blue Lines, the new event centre, and extend as far south as possible. If not, the funding would be off the table again.

The mayor is expected to meet with Smith and Dreeshen on Monday to discuss the Green Line.

Smith said Friday she hopes the mayor can see the importance of the Green Line staying above ground to help reduce costs.

“I hope we have a meeting of the minds on an above-ground alignment,” Smith said. “It’s about a billion dollars a kilometre to bury. It’s about 300 million [dollars] to put on an elevated line.”

Dreeshen said building above ground will allow them to build further with the same budget.

“We’re working on a Green Line, obviously, to make sure that that downtown alignment and the cost savings of not tunnelling, can really have the benefits stretching out the southeast and into the suburbs of Calgary,” Dreeshen said.

The Green Line and city will be holding design information sessions from Nov. 25-27 in Inglewood, Ogden and Quarry Park.

With files from Lauryn Heintz